


Reunion

by warriorofculture



Category: SpongeBob SquarePants (Cartoon)
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28259460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warriorofculture/pseuds/warriorofculture
Summary: Plankton and Mr Krabs receive an invitation to attend their high school reunion
Relationships: Eugene Krabs/Sheldon J. Plankton, SpongeBob SquarePants/Squidward Tentacles
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Reunion

He gazed at the paper in his hands and sighed. The header of the paper showed a high school’s logo, and below that, a neatly typewritten letter, inviting him to a reunion to be held in two weeks. He’d read the letter several times, but after the first time, the words just didn’t register anymore.

“Reunion…” he muttered.

Memories swam to the surface of his mind, all involving events of his past at that school. It felt like an eternity since then… but at the same time, it also felt as though he’d graduated just a few years ago. None of his memories were pleasant; he’d had no friends and was subject to constant bullying. Why? He didn’t know; teenagers bullied their peers for everything and anything. And nothing.

He sighed again. “Why should I bother going,” he mumbled as he headed for the rubbish bin. He knew there was no requirement to go, and he certainly had no reason to return to that place full of nightmares and verbal and physical abuse. It seemed rather gutsy of the school to send him an invitation in the first place, really.

However…

He paused, his arm extended over the bin. He remembered he’d once had a friend, just one, who’d stuck by his side for the first ten years of their lives. They’d had a falling-out in fifth grade and became bitter enemies. Despite this, both continued attending the same school until their graduation seven years later. He was sure that person was invited to the reunion as well.

He set the letter on the floor beside him and pulled out his mobile. He tapped in a number he knew all too well, then held up the phone.

A few rings later, he heard a bored, nasal voice. “Krusty Krab.”

Should he disguise his voice? No, he knew the person who’d answered the phone wouldn’t care who was on the other end of the line. “I need to speak with Mr Krabs, please.”

“One moment.” A pause, then he heard the voice again, though muffled. “Mr Krabs, Plankton is on the phone for you.” Another pause. “I don’t know, he just said he needs to talk to you.”

He swallowed as he waited through a third pause. It was possible the line was being switched over to Krabs’ office. Why was he feeling nervous? It wasn’t like he was after the Krabby Patty secret formula; he’d not even conceived a plan at this point. He was just going to ask a harmless question.

Just one single, solitary, harmless question.

After a time, he heard a rough voice he’d grown so accustomed to hearing over the years. “What is it, Plankton?”

“Uh… h- hey, Eugene.”

“Spare me the pleasantries. What kind of scheme are ye cookin’ up this time?”

“There’s no scheme, Eugene, honest. I just wanted to ask if you got an invitation in the mail today.”

“Invitation?” Papers were shifted around. “Hm, I got the mail earlier but ain’t had a chance to look at it yet…” More shifting. “Ah, there ye are. Wait… how did ye know about an invitation?”

“Just open it and read it.”

He heard more paper-shifting as the envelope was opened and the letter extracted. There was a bit of silence before Krabs said softly, “High school reunion…?”

“Yeah. I got one, too.”

“And that’s why ye called me.”

“Yes.”

Krabs let out his breath in a sigh. “That sure takes me back, bein’ in high school.”

“Are you going to go?”

“Go?” Krabs sounded surprised. “Er, I- I… I ain’t sure. I’m pretty busy runnin’ me restaurant, and…”

“It’s after you close for the night,” Plankton pointed out. “You’ll have plenty of time to get there.”

“O- Oh.”

“So?”

“I… I still ain’t sure. Ask me again on that day, and I’ll give ye my answer.”

“…Alright.”

“Are ye goin’, Sheldon?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I’d rather not re-visit my past, especially at that place.”

“Ye gotta point.”

“Listen, I’ll call you again the day of the reunion and if we both decide to go, we can leave together.”

“Why don’t ye just come by here after I close the place? It’ll save some time.”

“Are you sure?”

“Aye.”

“Alright, I’ll see you then.”

“Goodbye.”

“Bye.”

He hung up. Why had his nervousness turned into apprehension? Perhaps it was because Krabs almost seemed to invite him to meet with him in two weeks so they could go to their high school reunion together. But he’d already said he wasn’t going; what did the rest matter?

_“I’ll call you again the day of the reunion and if we both decide to go, we can leave together.”_

His single eye widened.

He’d said that himself.

* * *

Another long day of no customers. Plankton was too tired to even sigh as he locked up the Chum Bucket. It was the same thing day after day; he wasn’t sure how he managed to get through the past two weeks. Yet here he was, trudging across the street in the dying evening light towards the Krusty Krab.

The front doors of the restaurant swung open, revealing Mr Krabs’ only two employees. One of them spotted him and smiled.

“Hiya, Plankton!”

“Spongebob.”

“Going home?”

“No, I’m going to talk to Mr Krabs.”

“Really? Well, have fun with that.”

The other employee spoke up. “Spongebob, don’t you think this is a scheme to steal the secret formula?”

“Don’t be silly, Squidward.” Spongebob waved a hand dismissively. “Plankton says he’s just going to talk to Mr Krabs, that’s all.”

“Squidward rolled his eyes. “You’re too naïve. At least Mr Krabs can handle things if Plankton really is after the formula.”

“Yep!” Spongebob nodded. “Now c’mon, I wanna show you what I’m making for dinner.” He took hold of Squidward’s hand and led him away from the restaurant.

Plankton, who’d been quiet the entire time, watched the two in curiosity. He’d never seen them cooperating like that before; ordinarily, Squidward would be unhappy at having any sort of physical contact with his neighbour and co-worker. Yet he was letting the sea sponge gently pull him along, following without a word. It was quite bizarre.

He shook his head. “Nevermind them,” he muttered as he resumed his walk to the Krusty Krab.

He pushed open the front doors and stepped inside. The restaurant was empty. He crossed the floor towards the office in the rear. The route was so familiar to him, as it was the route he took to get to the Krabby Patty secret formula. Again and again he’d tried to steal the formula, and again and again he failed.

But this time, he wasn’t after the formula.

He gave a tentative knock on the closed door.

“Plankton?” came a voice from the other side.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“C’mon in.”

He opened the door and crossed the threshold, letting the door stand open behind him. Krabs sat at his desk, though his gaze was on a piece of paper in his claws.

“Is that your invitation?” Plankton guessed.

“Aye, it is.” Krabs set the paper down and watched Plankton as the latter moved closer and climbed up onto the desk.

“Are you going?”

Krabs blew out a sigh. “I ain’t exactly in a mood to go, no. You?”

“As I said before, I don’t wish to re-visit my memories of the past.”

“Like when Bobby Lightbubble flushed ye down the toilet?”

Plankton gaped at Krabs in shock. To his further surprise, the crustacean had a mischievous smile on his lips. “Y… You know about that?”

“Everyone in school talked about it for days; who _didn’t_ know about it?”

Plankton slowly shook his head. “I still can’t believe he did that… I wonder what he’s doing now.”

Krabs was thoughtful. “Last I heard, he was workin’ at the dealership on the edge o’ town.”

Plankton snorted. “Really? We were all so certain he’d start his own company and eventually rule over the business side of Bikini Bottom.”

“Aye, but look what happened to ‘im. And who be the entrepreneurs now?”

“Rag boy and the nerd… heh.” Plankton allowed himself a smile. “Did the kids ever stop calling you that name?”

“Rag boy?” Krabs shrugged. “I stopped listenin’ to ‘em years and years ago, Sheldon. Names be superficial; it’s yer actions that matter. I’m guessin’ they stopped at some point, but it doesn’t make much difference to me.”

“True.”

“What about ye?”

Plankton heaved a sigh as he sat. “I wasn’t so fortunate. I kept listening… they only stopped when we graduated and went our separate ways.”

“What about college?”

“Nobody there knew me, so no one called me names. I was given some strange looks for my fascination with the destructive side of science, but I can tolerate that much better than direct name-calling.”

Before responding, Krabs turned his chair so it faced a small table nearby. On the table rested a coffeemaker; a pot had already brewed and was warming on the heating element. He picked up the carafe and poured its contents into two mugs; one was considerably smaller than the other. After returning the carafe to the machine, Krabs handed the smaller mug to Plankton, who accepted without a word. He then took the larger mug and took a sip before speaking.

“Why are ye so bothered with all this name-callin’, anyway?”

Plankton, who’d already taken a drink of his coffee, lowered his gaze to the smooth wooden surface of Krabs’ desk that spread out before him. He remained silent, wondering exactly how much he should tell.

At last, he spoke. “You know the phrase, ‘sticks and stones’?”

“Aye.”

“Well… whilst names my not cause physical damage, they certainly cause lasting psychological damage.”

“Meanin’…?”

“Meaning, when you hear the words, the names, long enough… you start to believe them.” He blinked back tears and took another drink, not meeting Krabs’ gaze.

Silence filled the office for several long moments. Plankton didn’t know what else to say, so he kept quiet as he continued drinking. He didn’t even know why he’d admitted such a thing to Eugene Krabs, of all people, but there was no changing the past. He’d said it.

Finally, a voice broke the silence.

“Sheldon… ye know none o’ those things be true. Yer not any of the names those kids called ye in school; they only said it because they knew it would hurt ye. And ye let it hurt ye. All these years, ye let ‘em continue to hurt ye, long after the name-callin’ stopped.

“But lemme tell ye somethin’. Ye’re more ‘n what those kids said; I mean, lookit ye, runnin’ yer own business. The inventions ye conceive to try to get me formula be quite impressive; I’m always in shock ‘n awe whenever ye come here with yer latest creation and scheme. Yer intelligent, thinkin’ outside the box, and yer creative, too. Who else would think to build a computer like Karen?”

“Yeah…” Plankton nodded, his gaze on his empty mug.

“B’sides, ye gotta remember they were just kids. If ye asked any of ‘em about what happened back then, they probably don’t even remember it.”

Plankton nodded again. “You know, Eugene, you’re a lot smarter than you think. I know you outwit me every time I try to steal the secret formula, but it’s more than that. You know when to take down the barrier between us and talk to me like this… like friends.”

“I miss those days.”

“Me too.” Plankton’s voice was a murmur.

Krabs glanced at the clock on the wall. “Ye know, we be very late for the reunion.”

Plankton looked up at the clock as well. He hadn’t realised they’d talked for so long. “Well, that doesn’t bother me; I wasn’t planning on going anyway.”

“Me either.” Krabs smiled. “In fact, I’ve been enjoyin’ our little chat.”

“So have I.” Plankton turned his gaze to the crustacean sitting before him. “Eugene…”

“Aye?”

“Do you think… we could ever go back to the way things were before?”

“Ye mean when we were best friends?”

“Yeah.”

Krabs set his mug on his desk and held out a claw. When Plankton gave him a confused look, he pointed to the mug. Plankton gave him the mug and he refilled it before returning it to him. As he refilled his own mug, he let out a sigh.

“Eugene?”

“I don’t know,” Krabs admitted, leaning back in his seat. “Even if we became best friends again, wouldn’t ye still try to take me secret formula? It’d be rather easy to use our friendship against me to steal it.”

Plankton was silent again for several long moments. He knew Krabs had a point. It was the secret formula that drove them apart, and what was keeping them apart now. Trying to re-establish a friendship over that rift would be catastrophic. He knew, no matter what sort of relationship he may have with Krabs, there would always be that obstacle of the Krabby Patty secret formula.

He looked down. “You’re right… Friendship or no, nothing would change, would it?”

“No, it wouldn’t.”

“Then… couldn’t we at least have more times like these? Where we set aside our differences for a little while and just talk?”

“Perhaps.”

Plankton raised his gaze again. “R… Really?”

Krabs, smiling again, nodded. “Aye. I know ye don’t have any ulterior motives tonight, which is why I had no problems invitin’ ye over here. I’ve known ye my whole life, Sheldon; I can tell when ye’re tryin’ to steal me formula and when ye’re wantin’ to come here to just talk and reminisce about the past. Tonight, it be the latter. Mayhaps in a few days, ye’ll want to come here again for the same reason… and I’ll let ye come in to talk.”

Plankton found himself smiling as well. “I’d like that very much, Eugene.”

“So would I.”

As Plankton sipped his coffee, he realised tonight went far better than he’d initially thought… and he wasn’t even at his high school reunion.


End file.
